Health Patterns of Ennea Type 4 (Enneagram Series)

Hi, I am hoping to speak to you today about the health patterns of Ennea Type 4, the “Individualist”.

The Type 4s being such unique original people, they never come in for the same ailments: they are all coming in for different complaints. I don’t see a consistent complaint, main problem. However, what I would call is really going on in the health pattern of the Type 4 I call it “Yeah but”. “Yeah, I know I should walk more but I was feeling so sad yesterday when I thought about losing my dog”. “Yeah, I know I should be eating differently but… I wasn’t in the mood to go to the grocery store so I just ate that spaghetti anyway”… “Yeah but”.

“Yeah, I know I should do this but instead I am doing that” and in general, the Fours do find their own impulses to be very contrary where they kind of want both things at the same time. They want to be deeply in love but they want to be left alone. They want to feel seen and wanted but they hate to feel the center of attention.

There is always this push-pull dynamic going on. And what I find that it really settles down into the body is what we call “melancholy”. There is an acuteness, a sweet sadness that the Fours seem to feel quite a lot and this is “home base” for them. Unfortunately feeling content with deep emotionalism can be very stagnating to the body. The body wants action and instead we are holding still and processing.

We are thinking about the past but we are not really making any changes towards the future: that’s that “yeah but”, right? “Yeah, I know I should be thinking about the future but I just need to think about the past a little bit more”.

So what I am treating patients for really is… trying to unstick their stuck energy. I am looking for motion and what this really needs to translate to for the Type 4 is “letting go of the resistance to change”, “being willing to take new actions”, “being willing to consider new thoughts”. “Trying again, starting new.”

The Type 4 really wants to dig in and just process, but this ends up leading you nowhere. There has to be forward momentum in your health, finances, relationships, job… We need to see the Type 4 putting bigger energy into moving on, moving ahead.

So there are, interestingly, acupuncture points that can do this, points that unstick frozen energy. And by placing them in what we call “contra-lateral locations” — meaning one point on one side but a different point on another side — we start creating movement of energy within the body and what the patient ends up reporting is feeling invigorated. Feeling like they have a clear mind, feeling like their emotions have been stabilized and they feel much more motivated and able to make some new changes in their life.

And we find that the health concern resolves as the patient is able to accept that they are open to making new changes and trying new things.

If you are curious to learn more about your health patterns, if you are Type 4 and want to talk a little bit more about how to get some momentum going in your health and life, please call and book an appointment. I would love to work with you.
Candice Thomas, Licensed Acupuncturist, Enneagram Teacher
LightWorks Acupuncture, Tucson
(520) 318-5560

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